Europe

Europe ranks sixth in terms of area of continents. It covers 10,521,100 sq km or about one-fifteenth of the world's land area. It extends between 25° Wand 65° E longitudes and 35° Nand 73° N latitudes-from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains in the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the western part of Russia in the east. Europe is a westward extension from north­western Asia. Asia and Europe are not separated com­pletely, and the two regions are sometimes regarded as one continent-Eurasia. However, because of its certain distinc­tive characteristics, Europe is considered to be a continent by itself.

Europe is divided into four major physical divisions­the Northwest Mountains, the North European Plains, the Central Uplands and the Alpine System. The Northwest Mountains extend from Finland through Sweden, Norway and the British Isles to Iceland, and include some of the oldest rock formations on earth. The mountains have worn down over the years and the average elevation is not very high. The area is rich in metallic minerals such as iron and copper.

The North European Plains extend from the Urals in the east to the Atlantic coast in the west. The region also includes part of south-eastern England. The plains are broadest in the eastern part and narrow down towards the west. To the north of the North European Plains lie the Northwest Mountains, the White Sea and the Baltic Sea, and to the south lie the Central Uplands. The plains comprise flat and rolling land and some hills. They constitute some of the world's most fertile farmlands. In some places beneath the plains lie deposits of high-grade fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

The Central Uplands region is constituted of a variety of low mountains, hills and plateaus that run through the central part of Europe. The uplands include the Meseta in Spain and Portugal, the Massif Central and Juna mountains in France, the Black Forest in Germany and .several low ranges in the Czech and Slovak republics. Most of the land is rocky and has poor soil for farming, but some river valleys in the region are suitable to agriculture. Parts of the region are rich in mineral deposits.
The Alpine Mountain System comprises chains of high mountains stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east. Important mountain ranges include the Alps (covering part of south-eastern France and northern Italy, most of Switzerland, and parts of southern Germany, Austria and northern Yugoslavia), the Apennines (covering much of Italy), the Alpines (including the Dinaric Alps of Yugoslavia and Greece; the Balkans of Bulgaria; and the Carpathians; and the Caucasus).

The highest mountain peak of Europe is Mount Elbrus (5,633 m) in the Caucasus.
Europe has an irregular and a long coastline of about 60,957 km. Large portions of sea have penetrated deep into the land, with the result that most of Europe (except the heart of Russia) are within about 480 km of a seacoast. The land curves in and out in a series of large and small peninsulas-the Scandinavian peninsula (Norway and Sweden), Jutland (Denmark), the Iberian peninsula (Portu­gal and Spain), the Apennine peninsula (Italy) and the Balkan peninsula (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and parts of Turkey and Yugoslavia).
Thousands of islands lie off the coast of Europe. The largest and most important of these is Great Britain, one of the British Isles.
The Volga is Europe's longest river, flowing 3,531 km through Russia to the Caspian Sea. River Rhine flows through the Alps through western Germany and the Netherlands to the North Sea. The Danube, Europe's second longest river, flows from southern Germany through Austria, Czechoslavakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania to the Black Sea.
The salt water Caspian Sea, which lies partly in Europe and partly in Asia, is also the world's largest lake. Its northern shore, lying 28 metres below sea level, is Europe's lowest point. Europe's largest freshwater lake is the Ladoga in Russia. Finland has about 60,000 lakes-the country is known as the 'land of thousand lakes'.
Most of Europe experiences mild weather. Northern Europe has longer, colder winters and shorter cooler summers than southern Europe. Eastern Europe experi­ences longer and colder winters and shorter and hotter summers than western Europe.